SALT LAKE CITY — Another Pioneer Day is around the corner. Saturday marks the 163rd anniversary of the Mormon pioneers' official entry into the valley of the Great Salt Lake.
There was some debate, as the oft-told story is oft told, among the 148 people in that inaugural wagon train about whether the desert valley that unfolded at their feet was their final destination or just another rest stop on the way to California.
But Brigham Young, being the leader, put an end to the discussion when he looked out the back of his wagon and uttered "This is the place," or some variation of that.
Every place has its origin story, and that's this place's.
And every year it gets everyone an extra day off work.
There are numerous places to reflect on the First Settling on that extra day off. There's the aptly named This Is the Place monument that overlooks the valley. There's Ensign Peak. There's Temple Square — the first 40-acre plot to be laid out and the centerpiece of the entire settlement.
But for solitude and a connection to genuine pioneer roots, there may not be a better place than the Mormon Pioneer Memorial located on the south side of First Avenue half a block east of State Street.
Solitude, because almost nobody's ever there.
Genuine pioneer roots because here is the final resting place of Brigham Young.
When the great colonizer died in 1877 and they selected a spot to bury him, this was the place.
Besides Brigham Young's grave, there are 12 other people buried in the little park. Seven of them are Brigham's wives: Mary Ann Angell, Mary V., Eliza R. Snow, Martha B., Susannah S., Lucy A. and Emeline Y.
Brigham Young had anywhere from 27 to 56 wives, depending on whose history you believe, but only the markers of the above seven are left to surround him in the Memorial Park, where his grave sits in the extreme southeast corner surrounded by a decorative iron fence.
The other grave markers are for Joseph A. Young, Brigham's eldest son, and one of his daughters, Alice Young Clawson, along with her three baby children, Luna, Harry and Monroe.
At the front of the park there's a monument to William Clayton, who acted as Brigham Young's clerk in that first wave of 1847 pioneers and during the crossing wrote the words to the popular Mormon trail song, "Come, Come Ye Saints."
Across from Clayton's monument is one dedicated to the aforementioned Eliza R. Snow, along with the lyrics to her great Mormon hit, "O My Father."
There are also memorial plaques and a statue recognizing the 80,000 Mormon pioneers who
crossed the Plains by wagon or by foot from 1846 to 1869, before the railroad arrived.
They are dedicated both to "those who died and (those who) lived to make their new desert home blossom as a rose."
The marker is surrounded by hundreds of colorful flowers — violets, daisies, carnations, you name it.
But, curiously, no roses.
In the center of the park, on the lower section above the graves, is a bronze bust of Brigham Young.
It's a lot of history for a small park in the center of the city — as Mormon as Mormon gets. A sort of LDS-style Lincoln Memorial.
And yet, it doesn't get much attention.
The day I went, it was lunchtime and just two days before Pioneer Day, and still it was just me and the grave markers for Brigham, his seven wives, his son and daughter and the three grandkids.
Nearby, Temple Square, the Joseph Smith Memorial, the Beehive and Lion Houses all were crowded.
But not the Mormon Pioneer Memorial.
The appropriately named Brigham Apartments neighbor the park. One of the residents, Janet Gibson, a descendant herself of Mormon pioneers who crossed the Plains, said she's noticed the park doesn't get many visitors.
"I think people go there mainly to pay their respects to Brigham Young and his wives," she said. "It's a place to be reverent. It's not a great place for a picnic."
But if you're looking for a spot Saturday to commemorate Pioneer Day, this is the place. Or some variation of that.
Lee Benson's column runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday on DeseretNews.com. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com.